


Know Without Asking

by murkyrain



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angry Kylo Ren, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Torture, Hux lies, M/M, Ren doesn't notice, Sex, Slow Sex, Snoke Being a Dick, Things move relatively quickly, kylo ren takes what he wants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 12:40:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8891074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murkyrain/pseuds/murkyrain
Summary: Snoke orders Hux to tell Ren that they cannot see each other anymore, though in many more and much different words, and then not so many of them at all after Ren figures out the truth.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to "This Is Gospel" by Panic! At The Disco a lot while writing this, though not all of it fits the story. I almost titled it the same even, but decided against it in the end.

Snoke's order comes unexpectedly, abruptly and for no particular reason whatsoever, when the general is standing alone in the projection room, looking up at his - probably heavily magnified - hologram.

"You are to tell Kylo Ren that you do not wish to continue your particularly offensive, suggestive brand of fraternizing with him anymore." _Lustful_ , Hux can almost hear the word Snoke has purposely omitted, purposely exchanged for a weaker term.

Perhaps he has, perhaps it was Snoke's doing that put it there.

"Why not tell Ren to do this to me? Why do you want me to do it?" Hux's questions burst from his mouth immediately, before he can swallow them.

As if he would have been at all inclined to.

Snoke waves his hand lazily. "This is how I have decided to do it, for reasons I do not wish and am not obliged to disclose to you, General. Yet, I will tell you that he does not require further temptation in his exercises, in the training I oversee and have planned for him in the near future."

Hux has another question, however.

"Won't he simply read my mind, and find that it was on your orders?" 

Snoke appears amused by this one, at least as amused as Hux has ever seen him appear.

"You can shield your mind from his powers if you try to, General Hux... I sense you know this easily enough."

Snoke waves his hand again, this time to dismiss him.

Hux has little choice but to nod nearly imperceptibly, turn his back and leave.

* * * * * * *

Snoke hadn't said for him to do it right away, Hux reasons - and he intended to enjoy it while it could still last, one time more at least, rubbing his hand on Ren's erection slowly, taking his time in his quarters.

Ren shows his appreciation of this change of pace from their usual one by returning the punishing favor, seemingly unaware, as Snoke had stipulated, of the impending destruction of their relationship.

If that was what it was even, as it had never been said in so many words, not by either of them so far.

And never will be, now.

Hux tries not to focus on that - what he's preparing to do, what he has to do for them - while Ren enters him, still hard but softer than usual, too.

Halfway through, Ren stops and frowns at him - before he speaks Hux thinks maybe he caught a glimpse of something he wasn't supposed to, some stray thought he shouldn't have heard.

"You're harder to read today. Hux. What happened?"

Hux groans, his hands held fast by Ren's on the bed, unable to stroke his throbbing dick. "I'll— tell you after."

Ren makes a small noise of frustration, though he pushes in deeper. "Usually you want me to listen, I hardly have to try at all, but. Today it's like you have more walls than when I first met you."

"I'm sorry," snaps Hux, already on edge. He's about to say _'next time I'll try to be less open'_ when he realizes again that there will be no next time (that Snoke has taken it away from them), the words dying in his throat, in a hasty, horrible whimper.

Ren is instantly alarmed, releasing the general's hands as if he'd accidentally burned them just with his touch. "What is it? Hux, Hux you can— you can tell me."

Hux doesn't want to, though, even as he takes Ren's hands back, sliding them over his, gripping them tightly.

"I know. Keep going," he orders, not wanting to tear apart what they have until they're through, until he truly has to.

Ren continues to frown slightly but he does, until he's all the way in and Hux is panting hotly in front of his face, air slapping thickly and wetly across his cheeks.

Hux is sure that his face is redder than Ren's, though they're both sweating, flushed.

He misses it already, before Ren is even gone, drawn just as slowly and torturously back out of him.

He bites his tongue hard, moans angrily into the pillow as Ren lets his head fall back onto it, releasing him entirely.

They lie on the bed, next to each other for some time in silence, Ren anxiously swiping his fingers through Hux's hair, becoming more anxious when, for once, Hux doesn't seem to mind.

Although time seems to pass unusually quickly, it's a while before Hux can muster the required nerves to bring it up, rising from the bed and drifting over to the other side of the room first.

"I don't want to see you anymore, Ren, not— not like this." Hux can't look at Ren when he says it, pretending to fumble through his drawers for a cigarette.

"What does that mean?" he demands, angry enough that Hux wants to turn around to see it - but not enough to actually do it until he adds, pleadingly, "Hux. Let me see you."

It would have been funny, he thinks, hopelessly as he looks over to him, that he used the same words - _'see you'_ \- probably unintentionally, if his hadn't been forced.

His cheeks burn, he's ashamed, so ashamed, it might be the hardest thing he's ever done to tell him, "I only wanted one thing from you, and it's over now. Ren."

Hux lights the cigarette, wanting, no _needing_ more so he reaches back into the drawer, grabbing the rest of the packet.

It's so unlike when they first met, or in the past - he doesn't want to hurt Ren now, not this way, never this way but he has and there's nothing he can do to take it back. He wants to but can't take it back.

"Hux, you can't— I mean, you _can_ , but— you don't really want to, I know you don't, I've seen—"

"What do _you_ know, Ren? What have you _**seen**_?" Hux whirls around, angry at him suddenly. "You think you know my mind better than I do?"

Ren's expression, of confusion, falls into one of shattered hope, disappointment. "N-no, I wasn't saying—"

"What _were_ you saying, then?"

"What's wrong with you?" blurts out Ren loudly, just as angry. "What's your problem?"

_Snoke_ , Hux thinks resentfully, as he suppresses Ren's attempts to invade his mind.

" _You_ ," he says instead, automatically, dying a bit as he does. He dies a little more as he adds, with brief forethought as to the effect it will have, " _ **You're**_ my problem, Ren. My problem to deal with, as always... **_my_** fucking problem." 

It won't be enough of a hint that this has nothing to do with Ren, or even him Hux knows, but it's all he can do to sneak the emphasis in, the slight to Snoke's wishes that will go unnoticed by the person he most wishes to notice it.

But, ever-in-the-moment Ren can't help his obliviousness, as usual, focused on one thing and one thing only - Hux, or more precisely Hux's words.

He has to fight hard to keep from openly wishing for the Knight to invade his mind and succeed, this time. To know without truly _knowing_ , without having heard it straight from him which would, therefore, get him off the hook of having to follow Snoke's orders.

If only he'd think to push it, the one time Hux wants him to, to force his way in and take what both of them so desperately need.

The opportunity is as fleeting as Hux's general hopes, however.

" _Fine_ ," the man practically snarls, seething, blinking and shaking back furious tears from his eyes. "I'll leave you alone, then." 

Hux doesn't want to be alone, but he can't have Ren and right now he doesn't want anyone else so he says, attempting to be scathing, incredulous,

"Did you really think this would last?" Hux has to spit out the words fast, so that Ren will be more likely to take them as he will first hear them, with harshness that Hux does not actually mean - or does, in order to minimize the harshness of their ruined relationship later.

"No," Ren says bitterly, honestly, "but I hoped it would."

_I hoped so, too,_ Hux thinks helplessly, feeling water well up in his eyes as well.

Ren doesn't seem to notice, already having turned his back to him, taking small, hasty strides toward the door. Perhaps he doesn't care about him anymore or, Hux thinks with a horrific pang, perhaps he never did, in fact.

He doesn't have the heart to ask, and Ren makes good on his words, leaving him alone to cry.

Hux can almost hear the Knight's anguished cries from halfway across the ship, easily imagining them as well as the destruction of machinery he will leave in his wake. 

Abandoned, shivering and hurt in his quarters, he pretends to himself that that's what he cares about most.

He pretends that this will blow over in time, that this is, _has to be_ the worst of it.

* * * * * * *

Hux is not expecting the invasion of his mind when it does happen, Ren enraged, lashing out, and seeking answers only a few days later - a reasonable length of time or measure of control for anyone else, maybe.

He can't help but be glad for it, relaxing even as Ren uses the Force to hold him by his throat, pinning him to the wall.

His apparent relief confuses the Knight, whose hold awkwardly loosens, nearly drops entirely as he studies the general.

After a scant moment of hesitation, Ren rushes into his head, seizes the information he wants after breaking through Hux's unsupported, Force-less barriers. Hux braces himself for whatever reaction he'll receive.

It takes the man a few minutes to recover, staring slack-jawed at the First Order general as he regards him with the newfound knowledge, of his 'Master's' disapproval.

Newly stolen, yet, Hux can't bring himself to care, assured that he at least knows _why_ now, despite not knowing what, if anything, he will do about it.

Ren lets go, lets his outstretched arm fall and nods carefully at him, though Hux isn't confident he is actually considering anything, seemingly making an important decision before stepping back, still conflicted.

He leaves Hux there, alone, again.

* * * * * * *

Ren wonders not if this is a test, but what kind of test it is. He wonders if, in forcing Hux to tell him the truth, then deserting him once more without recourse, he has passed or failed it.

He resolves to ignore Hux, now, to prove he means nothing to him.

He remains bitter, but he is no longer angry, and wonders whether he was supposed to be, either at Hux or his Master for the deception.

He finds that, with this answer, he is more confused than ever.

_This_ makes Ren angry again, enough to go off and damage the nearest console, though more methodically than usual, cutting straight red streaks rather than jerking them around everywhere, stomping on some splintered pieces once he's done to tear them away from the main computer completely.

He doesn't know what to do, beyond that.

* * * * * * *

Hux wants to damage things himself in his frustration, the fact that nothing much aside from Ren's markedly vengeful temperament toward him has changed. He wants more than that to change, as always. It isn't enough.

He paces in his quarters until his legs are sore, until his body is crying out to him for sleep, needing him to rest, to ease the fatigue he has allowed to turn bone-deep.

He drifts into it eventually, painfully.

He has no answer.

* * * * * * *

A few weeks pass without further incident. Hux doesn't realize until it's far too late that, although he can definitely do without the additional damage to his ship, he misses the Knight's outbursts of emotion. He misses anything from the Knight at all, any small portion of acknowledgment of his existence.

Eventually, the rumor that he's 'tamed' Ren, likely forged due to the decreased frequency of his tantrums, makes its way back to the general, who snorts at it when he hears it. Ren can't be tamed, and he isn't fool enough to try.

Snoke seems pleased with their lack of social progress every time they visit him, assuring Ren that his training is, thus far, going 'well'.

Hux sneers, watching the man scramble for the old alien's approval and the old alien maintaining his indifference to give any more of it than he deems absolutely necessary, but like Ren he doesn't even seem to notice, which feels like more of an insult than anything the Knight or the Supreme Leader could have said to him.

Swiftly, he turns his back on them and heads out, reports delivered, his presence no longer required and the room's air stifling, beginning to feel suffocating.

Feeling the deprivation equally acutely, Ren does notice when he is alone with Snoke, however, he also knows the general's absence is beneath mentioning to him and so, chooses not to say anything about it.

"You have wrested the truth from General Hux, I take it," his Master comments slowly, speaking first, eyeing him with an eerie, unnerving blankness that almost makes the Knight shiver.

"Yes, Supreme Leader," he answers instead, knowing that Snoke will know if he lies, that it will be worse if he does.

For possibly the thousandth or so time (he's lost count, though he tells himself, insists that he was never truly _counting_ ), Ren wonders if he was supposed to lie, to deceive or at least narrowly evade the fact just as Hux had.

If he was supposed to lie and succeed at lying, or tell the truth.

If he was supposed to unveil the truth, or leave it alone in the first place, unworthy of the expenditure of effort.

Snoke nods at him, and Ren has no idea what it means until he adds,

"Good."

Ren feels relief, but also fear, that he will not be able to continue doing what Snoke wants, not only because he doesn't want to but because he may also not be strong enough to.

He is doing 'well', now - but for how long can he keep it up?

Thinking of being a constant disappointment reminds the Knight of his old master, Luke Skywalker, whom he frequently disappointed - but Luke had weaker punishments, so he never learned, never fully understanding why he was always let off so easily, even if it didn't always feel like it at the time. With Snoke he _is_ learning, albeit more harshly.

It is so he remembers, so that the lessons do not have to be drilled into him time and time again, to draw the most potential out of him and his abilities, as quickly and prudently as possible.

Although he tries to trust in this, in Snoke and his well-formulated plans for him as well as the rest of the galaxy, Ren can't help thinking that Hux has this _and_ the utmost potential, too.

* * * * * * *

It's only been about a month when Ren fucks up - or, more accurately, fucks Hux against the wall in a conference room, having come back from a battle sparking and full of anger.

Hux believes he will be blamed for this, this mishap, slip-up, blunder, whatever the hell terrible idea it is that has interrupted Ren's 'training', but in the moment, he doesn't care.

He is correct, however.

Snoke takes it upon himself to reprimand him not long thereafter, quite clearly taking a personal interest despite all other evidence to the contrary.

He does not spend long to reprimand him, in fact, but he does take long to punish him for the act.

Ren is too far away to hear his screams. 

Hux isn't sure he wants him to.

At any rate, Snoke will not allow it.

"This is your last chance, General. Do not distract Kylo Ren again, or you will **both** lose something of great, _**irreplaceable**_ value."

Hux thinks they already have - or, at least, he has.

* * * * * * *

Ren senses something, though. 

In the privacy of the refresher connected to his bedchamber, cleaning up after the mess he made of himself with Hux not much earlier, he feels a disturbance in the Force, enough of one to make him drop his razor on to his feet and wince, almost simultaneously. 

He feels something barring his access to it, to learn exactly what it entails, too - a presence strong in the Force, and familiar.

Snoke.

He realizes in an instant what must have happened, what must have transpired in his absence, and rushes out of his room faster than he ever remembers having done before.

With the Force, he reaches out and searches the ship for Hux's presence and, alarmingly, cannot find it.

He wants to run somewhere, to do _something_ , but does not know where to run.

He understands, then, that he has to throw off Snoke's influence before he will be able to find Hux.

Perhaps entirely.

It is another test, surely. Supreme Leader will not kill Hux - not when he is such a vital part of their organization, their plans for the galaxy at large. The First Order would fall apart without him, this much Ren as well as his Master knows, and knows well.

But Ren has never been fool enough to believe that Snoke would be averse to harming him, if he deemed it necessary.

Perhaps he does, for Ren's training.

It is his fault, then - his fault Hux is being held like this, without consent, concealed by the Dark, presumably tortured solely for the sake of advancing the Knight's abilities.

He hesitates.

If he interrupts, it could mean worse torture for the both of them.

If he does not, Hux could die.

Ren pushes past Snoke's barrier without further pause at the thought, using his anger at himself, Snoke, Hux, the situation, _**everything**_ to infiltrate it.

Snoke will not let him have this, he knows now - not even as diminished as he has made it. Snoke would not let him have his parents nor his friends in the past, anyone he could have entrusted his life or anything else of significance to. Snoke would never let him have something with the potential to take him away from him, to turn him towards the Light.

Ren is not, and never will be of the Light, but he thinks he is not of the Dark either, not completely. He isn't, cannot be sure. He is only certain that, with all of the mistakes he's made, he is not willing to risk making such a huge, _life-ruining_ one again.

Like the one that killed Ben Solo.

And the one that killed Han.

Snoke does not seem surprised by the intrusion, or at least, acts as if he isn't when Ren bursts into the room where he's keeping Hux - _torturing_ him, of course.

" _Hux!_ " gasps Ren, at the sight of the blood-streaked general.

He's huddled on the floor, gone limp, shivering or sweating or both all at once.

Snoke stops him from reaching out to him, placing a barrier between them as easily as before, as he continues to torture Hux.

Ren simply can't take it, not anymore and he throws it off for the second time to cut the Supreme Leader through with his lightsaber.

He doesn't mourn Snoke.

He doesn't. 

Not at all, and somehow less when Hux realizes,

"He wasn't going to kill me... but you didn't know that. **_I_** didn't know that."

Ren had felt it, Hux's uncertainty more than Snoke's intentions.

"I'm sorry, Hux I'm sorry," he sobs, onto the general's slowly, yet definitely heaving chest. "I never dreamed— I didn't think he'd come after you for my indiscretion, for what was obviously my decision. I thought he would know I provoked and pursued you, and he did, but— I didn't know him as well as I thought... nor you." Ren pauses before repeating, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Hux groans, hisses, " _Quiet_ , you melodramatic, Force-wielding maniac."

He is upset with Ren beyond belief, but that can wait; after all, as he reaches up to catch as well as silence Ren with a kiss, Hux thinks they have some time, at least.

For now - and that is all they can ask for.

Although they've never been the type to ask.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [tornforce](http://tornforce.tumblr.com) for assistance with Ren's side of things, and opinions on the title and such.
> 
> If you'd like to talk to me about this work in particular or reach me for any other reason, my Hux blog is [explicitorder](http://explicitorder.tumblr.com).


End file.
